we've had 35 years of that reality, and, you're right, we don't like it.

This weeks effort:

Monsanto March

In 1994, Norman Braksick, the president of a Monsanto subsidiary, was quoted as saying, “If you put a label on genetically engineered food, you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it.” One has to wonder exactly what he meant by the statement at the time, but it turns out he may have been dead spot on.
 
Monsanto has spent massive amounts of money fighting moves to require the labeling of ‘genetically modified organisms”, or GMO’s. Recent studies are showing ol’ Norman may have been on to something. A 2012 French study, published in “Food and Chemical Toxicity” (yes, there really is such a journal), showed lab rats suffered multiple forms of life shortening cancers after long term feeding on GM corn/ maize, or drinking water containing Monsanto’s Roundup ( an herbicide the genetic modification is designed to make the corn immune to) at levels typically found in US tap water in areas where it is used. This benchmark study is the first to measure the effects of long-term consumption of Monsanto products.
 
This Saturday (May 25), there will be a worldwide protest march against the use of GMO’s in agriculture and food production. Actions are planned in at least 250 cities in 47 states and 36 countries in hopes of raising awareness of the ubiquity these products are gaining in the world food supply. It is estimated that these products are included in about 75% of processed food and 90% of corn and soy products sold in the US.
 
These products have been  banned outright in Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Madeira, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, Russia, France, and Switzerland, and over 60 countries require labeling of any product which contains them. But, in yet another testament to the power of the corporate lobbying dollar, there is no requirement what so ever for any labeling of these products here in the US.
 
Recently, we saw the “Monsanto Protection Act”, which prohibits American courts from enforcing bans on the planting of Monsanto seeds, even if they are proven to have caused harm, snuck into one of the fiscal bills the President had to sign to keep the government from defaulting. Just yesterday, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly against an amendment to the farm bill that would not have required labeling of GMO’s, but would have allowed individual states to decide if they wanted to require such labeling.
 
Monsanto is one of the world’s largest producers of poisons. They gave the world Agent Orange as well as many of the common herbicides we see sold over the counter, with dire warning labels, in the US. One of the main goals of their GMO program is to produce plants that are immune to their herbicides so they can be sprayed with them to control weeds and other invasive plants. Pictures of “farmers” in full chemical containment suits in Monsanto fields are common fare on social media. What could possibly go wrong?
 
Stay Awake, America!!

Well, we'll see what 2014 brings, then. I suspect this is not an issue that is going to go away this time.

And, here it is:

501C

This past week, in Washington, we have seen the business of the American people completely disrupted by three distractions which have very little to do with the actual running of the country. More of the endless, pointless hearings in the Benghazi witch hunt, a Justice Dept. over reach in a leak investigation, and a political “scandal” involving the IRS that, while reprehensible in nature, is no different than previous political “scandals” involving the IRS.
 
This column is not long enough to adequately deal with all three, and the IRS snafu is the issue that engenders the most visceral reaction in most Americans, so, today I’ll discuss it. It appears the IRS was targeting the tax-exempt status of certain conservative groups after the 2008 election, by using search phrases like “TEA Party” or “patriot” to choose files for review. While reprehensible, the problem does not lie solely at the feet of the IRS, and it certainly doesn’t fall on the administration.
 
The true culprits in this cesspool are the ambiguous nature of the 501C section of the tax code, which deals with tax exempt status, the disastrous Citizen’s United decision by the SCOTUS, which opened the door for sickening amounts of undisclosed money to be dumped into our political system, and the Congress, which is extremely reticent to take any action to clean up the mess because it might interfere with their gravy train of PACs and lobbyists.
 
While in 2009-10, the focus was on conservative groups, (there were liberal groups singled out for action too. The ONLY group to be denied exempt status was a progressive group from Maine), it could simply be at that time there were so many more of them seeking the  status. In 2004, it was anti-war churches seeing the most scrutiny. Tax exempt status is supposed to be a benefit to organizations which promote and provide for social benefits, thereby providing services the Federal Government will not have to. It is very hard to argue that groups like the TEA Party, American Crossroads, or Move On meet that criteria.
 
The 501C section of the tax code needs to be completely revamped, and it should occur as an integral portion of a comprehensive campaign finance reform package. That would do more to solve the political divide and gridlock we are experiencing than all of the witch hunts now being dumped on us daily.
 
The GOP has grabbed all three of these issues like a drowning man grabs a life preserver. In the meantime, all discussion of immigration, gun control, jobs, the economy, etc., have completely fallen by the wayside, although the GOP House did manage to vote, for the 38th time, to overturn the PPACA. Just as they did with WhiteWater in the Clinton era, the GOP is ginning up these issues to stir up the “useful idiots” in their base, and to keep the administration too busy to accomplish the work “We, the People” need them to do, while they continue to feed the American middle-class to the uber-wealthy.
 
Stay Awake, America!

Benghazi is WhiteWater all over again. A ginned up non-issue the GOP is using to stir up the "useful idiots" in their base and to keep the administration too busy to do the work of "We, the People" while they continue to feed the American middle-class to the uber-wealthy. You pretty much read my mind for this weeks column.

Here ya go, Bob - This weeks effort -

Plant a Tree!

In the ongoing debate over global climate change, the major focus, at least here in the US, has been placed on the burning of hydrocarbons and fossil fuels. While that is certainly a central part of the equation, it is only one side of the coin. The other side, possibly making a bigger contribution to the problem, is de-forestation and desertification, both of which are directly attributable to human activity.
 
Prior to the industrial revolution the Earth had, for four billion years, developed a balanced ecosystem, not impacted to any great extent by the activities of any single species. Vast rain forests and grassy plains provided massive carbon sinks that took the carbon produced by the biological processes of the Earth’s animal species and converted it into oxygen in a beautifully balanced cycle. All of that began to change a very short time ago, astro-physically speaking, with the advent of coal burning factories in England a couple of hundred years ago.
 
Since then as much as one third of existing rain and temperate forests on the planet have been cut down to provide lumber, agricultural land, and living space for us humans. By 1910, 177 Million square miles of forests had been cleared in the US alone. According to the Rain Forest Preservation Society, the Amazon Rain forest has been reduced from over 4 Billion acres to less than 2.7 billion, and there does not appear to be a slowing of this process there, or in many places around the world.
 
Desertification, the decay of healthy grasslands into desert, has been accelerated by the human removal of the great migrating herds that provided the organic material and churning of the soil required by a savannah ecosystem. This has been most noticeable in North America and Africa, but is a worldwide phenomena.
 
For decades, common wisdom had farmers and ranchers keeping livestock off of fallow land to allow it time to recuperate from farming. This was found to be ineffective, and it has now been discovered that grazing large herds on lands in a rotation can contribute greatly to the health of the land.
 
Fortunately, unlike carbon emissions, the rate of deforestation and desertification does appears to be, overall, slowing, and programs to mitigate their effects, again, unlike carbon emissions (at least here in the US, we are an arrogant, ignorant nation), are being implemented around the globe. One example, in Costa Rica part of the cost of registering a vehicle is the cost the state will incur to plant enough trees to offset the carbon footprint of the vehicle in it’s lifetime.
 
Global climate change is real, it is definitely related to human activity, and only human consciousness/ conscience-ness is going to slow or reverse it. A single mature tree will remove as much as 50 lbs. of carbon from the atmosphere, and return enough oxygen to support two people in, a year. Programs to re-forest much of what has been destroyed are slowly gaining momentum. Do your part. Plant a tree.
 
Stay Awake, America.

Agreed, whole-heartedly, Bob. I have considered exactly the issues you bring up. Working at figuring out how to present more complex issues in the 500 word format. I'm considering doing serial columns to be able to adequately address items like those you bring up. Corporate agriculture is one of the most destructive forces in America today. Have you read "The Omnivore's Dilemna"? It is the best I've read dealing with these issues, although more and more is being written, and consciousness is slowly being raised. Thanks for calling Bruce on the "red flag in front of the Conservative bull.  They don't think people should be able to game the system" comment. I was going to say it was one of the funniest lines posted here in a while. They only care about "little people" gaming the system. 

Anyway, back to the current events for this weeks column:

Drum Beat

“Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La de da de de, la de da de da, …….
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on”

This week, with a degree of irony stretching the believable, the GW Bush Presidential Library was opened to the public on the 10th Anniversary of the “Mission Accomplished” speech given by President Bush six weeks into what turned out to be a 9 year quagmire in Iraq. The “Lie-bury”, as W would probably pronounce it, is, much like his Presidency, an amazing amalgamation of propaganda, misinformation, and revisionist history.

Did America learn the lessons offered to it by the run-up to the invasion of Iraq? Listening to the drumbeat “pounding a rhythm to the brain” being put forth about Syria by many of the same miscreants who were so instrumental in initiating the debacle in Iraq, one would have to surmise not. Fortunately, this time we have a President who is not pre-disposed to military adventurism.

Last August President Obama stated, “We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is if we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation”. Last week, Sec Def Chuck Hagel said, “Our intelligence committee does assess, with varying degrees of confidence, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on a small scale in Syria, specifically the chemical agent Sarin.”

He went on to say that the nature of the event is unclear and that “we need to know the full story and get it right”. Indeed. It would be nice to know if it was an accidental discharge, an independent action by a rogue officer, a “false-flag” operation by a rebel group trying to suck America into the civil war, or an actual deployment of Sarin intentionally by the Assad regime.

However, just like in Iraq, none of that matters to the chicken-hawks on the right. We are seeing stepped up rhetoric supporting military intervention in the Syrian civil war as well as increased pressure for military action against Iran. It is clear many on the right have not learned the lessons of Iraq, including the “law of unintended consequences." Iran would not be the issue it is today had W’s immoral invasion of aggression in Iraq not removed the counterbalance to Iran’s power in the region.

This President is acting with admirable disgression and reticence, wanting to have certainty before committing more American lives and treasure into the black hole of the Middle East. Not so, those on the right.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a leading voice amongst the chicken-hawks, in a comment eerily reminiscent of the “smoking gun in the shape of a mushroom cloud” absurdity issued by Condeleeza Rice, stated, “The next bomb that goes off in America may not have nails and glass in it”.

La de da de de, La de da de da!

Stay Awake, America!

This Weeks effort:

ANOTHER THREE ASTERISK WEEK!!!

After the bombing in Boston I saw repeated claims the sight of people running toward the explosions was what America is about, and is part of what makes us exceptional. Yes, the actions of those heroic folks is to be recognized and commended, but…..

NO, it is not “what America is about”. It is what humanity is about. Look at video from any disaster, of any kind, from anywhere in the world, and you will see the same thing. We in this country are blessed. For too many around the world, this an integral part of everyday life.

Sadly, in too many cases, it is often at our hand. In the end, you reap what you sow, whether this was foreign, domestic, or a deranged individual. We no longer hold the high moral ground in this country, no matter how much propaganda we are fed to make us believe it.

            *   *   *   

This week, an independent, bi-partisan task force, commissioned by the Constitution Project and co-chaired by former GOP Congressman and Under-Secretary of Homeland Security Asa Hutchison, reported it is “indisputable” the United States engaged in torture during the George W. Bush administration, and that culpability rises to the very top of the administration..

It is one of the greatest failings of the Obama administration that no one has been held to account for this travesty. It is also one of the main areas in which the US has ceded the moral high ground I referenced in the last segment.

            *   *   *   

And, finally……

Are you paying attention, America? Once again we are presented with absolute proof of who it is the GOP actually represents. It isn’t the majority of the American population.

Despite the fact as many as 90% of Americans want improved gun safety legislation (you can’t get 90% agreement among Americans that kittens are cute or that ice cream tastes good), 46 Senators, representing less than a third of the US population (less than a quarter if you remove Texas and half of Florida) voted against common sense legislation proposed by a bi-partisan group of Senators.

This cave in to the NRA and its money shows beyond a doubt the GOP (there were 5 Dems who voted against the bill, after it was clear the filibuster would not be broken) is the party of corporate dollars. Remember the Monsanto protection Act?

Change occurs because people demand it, not because politicians want it. If this is an issue you care about, make you voice heard. Politicians who buck the will of 90% of their constituencies do not often remain politicians for long. Sadly, our own Marco Rubio is not up for re-election in 2014, but many of those who voted against this common sense legislation are in for a shock in the up coming mid-terms.

In the last election, the NRA had a .03% success rate in races they spent money on. That was before groups sponsored by Gabby Giffords and Michael Bloomberg even existed. This is a tide that is turning. Get active, and get loud. Make our representatives actually represent us.

Stay Awake, America!

WE have empirical evidence in two of the recent shootings that restriction of magazine size can make a difference in these mass shooting incidents. In Tuscon, the shooter was stopped when he had to reload after firing a 30 round clip. Had he only had  7 or 10 rounds available significant damage and lost life might have been saved. In Newtown, Lanza left his small capacity magazines at home, only broinging the large capacity clips his mother would not have been able to acquiire had the 1994 ban not been allowed to expire. 5 (I've seen it reported as 11) children escaped from one of the classrooms when he had to stop and reload. WIll limiting magazine size make a big overall difference in life in America? No, but it might make an enormous difference in the lives of a very small number of Americans at some point. It is worth doing.

TRHe proposed legislation that fail;ed had bupkis to do with any specific weapon or fiream platform. It was a common sense requirement that as many people as conceivably possible that want to obtain a firearm have their backgrounds checked for issues which would preclude them from obtaining one. As Graham said, it's a bit redundant to have this going on in 2 places, but..... In the last election the NRA had a .03% success rate in the races they got involved in. THat was before the groups headed by Bloomberg or Gabby Giffords even existed. A hornets nest has been kicked, and this is not an issue which is going to be allowed to fade away (not if I, and milliions of others on social media sites can help it) Politicians who take a dump in the oatmeal of 90% of their constituents do not remain politicians for long.

In the last election the NRA had a 3% success rate in the races they got involved in, and that was before Bloomberg or Gabbie Giffords were competing. I believe they haved kicked a hornets nest that will not settle ( certainly you will continue to hear it from me) before the upcoming election. THe 44 Senators who voted against sensible legislation reprtesent a small portion of the American population. Politicians who pee in the beer of 90% of the constituencies do not remain in office for long.

What's happening in the enlightened states is far more promising than what is happening at the federal level. Cal. just started looking at some new controls.

Sometimes 500 words is just inadequate.

CHAINED CPI

“Social Security, Let’s lay it to rest once and for all….. Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. Social Security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. If you reduce the outgo of Social Security, that money would not go into the General Fund or reduce the deficit. It would go into the Social Security Trust Fund. So, Social Security has nothing to do with balancing a budget or lowering the deficit.”
 
Those are not my words. If you’ve read this column for a while, you probably know I don’t care too much for St. Ronnie Reagan. Virtually all of the economic woes this country is dealing with today are the fruits of seeds planted during his administration. But even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then, and on this particular acorn Reagan was dead spot on.
 
The way SS works is that payroll taxes on those in the workforce today are used to pay the benefits of those collecting the benefits today. Those who are doing the Chicken Little, “sky-is-falling” panicking about how the number of baby boomers entering the benefit side of the system are going to swamp it because they so outnumber the number of folks in the workforce, are not really too well informed.
 
When Reagan and Tip O’Neil passed their SS reform package back into the 1980’s, they were well aware of, and took into account, the existence of the baby boomers, and the effects they would have on the system when they retired. That is why the system, today, as it is, will be solvent to pay every dime of accrued benefits well into the late 2030’s without any action being taken at all.
 
The President’s offer of changing the index for determining the SS COLA (cost of living adjustment) to “Chained CPI” is a misguided attempt to find common ground with the GOP in the ongoing fiscal and budget debate. That common ground does not exist, and the change to chained CPI will be a disaster for many seniors. The premise behind it is, essentially, if tuna becomes too expensive for seniors to afford, they can switch to cat food and save the government some money.
 
There is a much more humane fix for the system. Payroll taxes are currently capped somewhere around $110,000. Simply doubling that cap would extend SS solvency into the 2070’s, at which point the “boomer bubble” will be a distant memory.
 
Those on the right will scream those people who see the increase will never collect SS and get their money back. SS is an insurance program, the most successful in history. When it was instituted, more than 50% of elderly Americans lived in poverty. That number is less than 10% today. I pay fire insurance on my house every year. I hope I never have to collect it, but I don’t for a moment mind paying it.
 
Chained CPI would be a disaster for many elderly who live on the edge. It is a bad idea.
 
Stay Awake America!

Nice. Common sense prevails.

I'm not up to date on your law. Does the amnesty allow the option of the individual registering the gun rather than turning it in if there are no reasons he couldn't qualify to own it?

WWW.COluMn

I’m gonna do something a little different today. I’m going to call this my WWW. COluMn; Wit and Wisdom from the Web. This will be a collection of one liners and quotes I’ve collected from various social media sites. Where I use direct quotes, I will attribute, but since most of the stuff is put there to be shared without it, I’ll just share what I’ve found and thought was funny or interesting. I hope you enjoy it.


Expecting the NRA to find a solution to gun violence is like expecting the pimp to find a solution to prostitution!

If only getting married was as easy as getting an assault rifle!

“Our food system belongs in the hands of many family farmers, not under the control of a handful of corporations.” – Willie Nelson

“The middle class society I grew up in didn’t evolve gradually or automatically. It was created, in a remarkably short period of time, by FDR and the New Deal.” – Paul Krugman

Life is like a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs. But, it’s your choice to scream or enjoy the ride.

Wishing and hoping will lose to planning and doing everytime!

“If you have a gun you can rob a bank. But, if you have a bank, you can rob everyone.” – Bill Maher

“The problem is we are not eating food anymore, we are eating food-like products.” – Dr. Alejandro Junger

Don’t cry over the past, it’s gone. Don’t stress about the future, it hasn’t arrived. Live in the present, and make it beautiful!

“I would like to see every single soldier on every single side, just take off your helmet, unbuckle your kit, and set down at the side of some shady lane, and say, nope, I ain’t gonna kill nobody. Plenty of rich folks want to fight. Give them the guns” – Woody Guthrie

Never look down on someone, unless you’re helping them up.

“But here’s the thing about rights – they’re not actually supposed to be voted on. That’s why they’re called rights.” – Rachel Maddow

“When you see that in order to produce you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see money is flowing to those who do not deal in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you, you may know that your society is doomed.” – Ayn Rand

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Is that true, or, did you hear it on FOX News?

Let your smile change the world…. But, don’t let the world change your smile.

The law requires labels telling us what’s in our mattresses. How can anyone object to labels telling us what’s in our food?

Stay Awake, America!

And, they don't have an agri-business that consciously upped the caloric intake of their citizenry to boost profits.

The standard has been used to protect gun shops who have knowingly allowed guns to sold to people who should not have them and to "lose" hundreds of guns from their inventory that later showed up in the commission of crimes. That is a travesty, and should be corrected. The liability suits against tobacco did not kill that industry, and retraction of this immunity would not kill the firearms industry either. It would merely force them to be responsible citizens.

No argument here, but removing the access to redress through the courts is a very slippery slope. The firearms immunity is a travesty. We have to hope this won't turn into one.

Well, things have certainly calmed down here in PP land these days!! I'll keep posting these haere for those who are interested.

MONSANTO PROTECTION ACT

This week, while the attention of virtually every one who pays attention to political issues was focused on the arguments going on in the SCOTUS over marriage equality and Gay rights, President Obama signed into law a bill which further erodes American’s ability to access protection through the Courts. The “poison pill” was included in a section of the spending bill Congress passed to avoid a government shut down for the rest of the fiscal year, and has been dubbed the “Monsanto Protection Act” by opponents.

The law forbids courts to intervene and halt the sale or planting and harvesting of genetically modified or engineered plants or seeds, even if they are discovered to be dangerous. This rider was written in conjunction with Monsanto representatives, and placed into the bill by GOP Senator Roy Blount of Missouri, the largest recipient of Monsanto campaign contributions in the Congress.

While this provision is only law for the duration of the fiscal year and expires with the spending bill, it sets a very dangerous precedent, and is consistent with the long term GOP goal of restricting American’s capacity to redress corporate wrong-doing through the courts. Much like the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,  passed by the GOP Congress and signed into law by President GW Bush in 2005, which protects firearms manufacturers and dealers from civil liability even when they are obviously negligent in the sale of guns, this law gives a blanket protection to a large corporation engaged in practices with undetermined risks. It is wrong headed and dangerous.

The rider was added into the bill late in the process as it moved through Congress. The offending section made its way into the bill with no review from either the Agriculture or Judicial sub-committees of either House. In the rush to avoid a government shutdown, it appears many Democrats who voted for the legislation were not aware the provision was in the bill they voted for.

 The same can not be said for President Obama. He was presented with a petition signed by over a quarter of a million Americans asking that he veto the bill until that provision was removed, and there were active protests going on outside the White House as he signed it..

Genetically modified and engineered plants and seeds are a new phenomenon on which few studies have yet been carried out. The potential dangers of these products are not yet known or understood. Many nations are banning them until such time as they are proven to be safe. It would be nice if our government were being as diligent in protecting us as others around the world are about protecting their citizen’s. But, in America, the corporate dollar is king.

Stay Awake, America!!